Amusing story of adaptation to a very different society. The book captures many particularities and challenges as part of Japanese everyday life. I feel, however many things have changed since this book in ways that are more complex to explain in a simple narrative. The feeling is one of much greater variability in stereotypes applied to foreign visitors, in the good and in the bad. ( )

I enjoyed the beginning of this book. The first chapters were quite interesting and it was nice getting an insight into his life in Japan.
However after reaching page 155, I am bored! I literally don't care about Mitsubishi and his latest projects and meetings anymore. It just seems to go on and on and I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel with this book.
Today, after much deliberation and deciding that life was too short, I've decided to give up here. The fact that it has taken me ages to get this far in the book, tells me that its just not for me. ( )

Very good read - another different look at life in Japan, almost the male version of The Accidental Office Lady.

A frog in a well knows not the ocean indeed, really made me think of Japan in general.

"Foreign students are visitors. Visitors should not stay too long in faraway places or they will forget to go back." Really sums up the ex-pat life well and makes me wonder about the future of some Nova fossils.

"Your hobby is something outside of work that you do at least once a year. If you do nothing but watch TV and sleep, your hobby is what you did, at least once, when you were a student." Then why on earth is sleeping a favorite hobby? If I had one yen for every time I heard that I'd be independently wealthy.

This was a very interesting read, I can't imagine life as a salaryman to begin with -- although he made the point that 'real' salarymen don't have blue eyes - and certainly can't imagine working for a Japanese company for fourteen years.

Timely read with the demise of Nova. ( )

I was worried at first, having caught a glimpse of the word 'hilarious' on the back of the book; but it was okay, it was just cover-bumpf written by someone else. I prefer my autobiographical tales to keep the hilarity to a minimum; afterall, when could anyone honestly describe anything they did as truly hilarious, without you having to have been there?

Murtagh's writing is simple and direct. His choice of the present tense is somewhat unusual but it adds an immediacy to the proceedings that could otherwise have been lacking, and I enjoyed the way his stories are delivered. I have been interested in Japanese culture for a long time, and having lived and worked in Japan myself I can certainly understand and sympathise a lot with the troubles Murtagh faced.

All in all, a good book. ( )

http://www.schlaikjer.net/reviews/147.htm ( )